I HATE IT!!!!!

These words were a consistent theme for me while I was in the ICU at St. Vincents' 6 weeks ago. Jeanah knew that I wasn't being hateful, but just expressing how much I disliked being hooked up to all the IV's and being SO tired and WEAK. She also said I sounded like my little niece, May, who has down's syndrome and often says this when she greatly dislikes something.

Well, my sister, Beth, took a turn for the worse last week on Christmas eve she went through three CODE BLUES at Salem Hospital before her frail body finally wasn't able to do what she willed it to do. She went to be with Jesus early Christmas morning. We suppose that Home is a good place to be on Christmas morning.

Mom said one of the last phrases she uttered was "I hate it!" because she was in such pain and annoyed by all the tubes, gizmos and wing dings hooked up to her.

The Memorial Celebration is at 2:00 Thursday December 30 at Salem Heights Church, Salem, Oregon. We expect many people, so come early if you come...

We are encouraged that she is in the BEST place and that we will see her again in the twinkling of an eye! I (still) HATE IT!! There has been much wailing and crying in our household these last few days. Please pray for peace for my mom and dad as they struggle through this intensely difficult pain. Beth's departure leaves a hole that we will not be able to fill. Praise God He has given us the victory over death and its sting! Well done, Beth, good and faithful servant!!

Peace be with you!

Victor

Fantasy Football

So, six weeks ago one of my first memories after the double-dip surgery was telling my loving wife Jeanah that "I must play Steven Jackson" in Fantasy Football and that there was a special Thursday night game and we need to check if any of my players are playing, etc.

She dutifully got her laptop and brought it to me, but of course through my drugged eyes, I couldn't even tell her how to make the change. I just was able to tell her to "play Steven Jackson" and so she did...I lost anyway...

These days, I'm getting stronger every day it seems and am able to sit up and work from home for up to 2 - 3 hour stints at a time with a nap in between of course. My pain is rarely over a two on a scale of one to ten. I am down to 1-2 pain meds per day with Tylenol as a supplement.

The incision on my lower belly is healing nicely and the three extra belly buttons I had are almost a memory. The only "bad" side effect I still am dealing with is some continued fluid drainage out my backside. Before the surgery, I had wrongly assumed that part of my anatomy would be sown shut. I guess they let it heal from the inside out and this is part of the side effect of that.

The pain meds make me uncontrollably weepy and emotional...and I sometimes wear a feminine pad (?TMI?) to keep my pants clean so Jeanah says I now know how half the world feels a quarter of the time.

The next medical thing for me is on 12/31, a PT scan to confirm there are no hot spots in my body after surgery. After that, we will meet again with Dr. Chang, the oncologist to discuss if we will be doing Chemotherapy or not. Right now it seems to be 60/40, but it's a tough decision. Please pray for wisdom and peace in this decision.

On another note, my lil sis, Beth, just had open heart surgery to replace a very badly calcified heart valve. The surgeon said afterward that he hardly sees how any blood was getting pumped out at all. I've visited her in Salem Hospital several times this week and she is improving with each visit. The bummer is that our family will not be celebrating Christmas all together for the first time in 35 years!

Jeanah and I will be in Salem for Christmas with her family and will spend time in the Hospital with my family as well.

We praise God for the blessing of His Son in this season and for all the blessings He heaps upon us daily!

Merry Christmas!!

Day by Day

Getting stronger each day. Mostly independent except changing bandages and the colostomy bag. I'll get there...

My right hand still has some numbness, but is also getting better.

Our family didn't have thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's because Beth made an unexpected trip to the hospital with an infection of some sort and what they think is kidney disfunction. Still praying she will continue to get better...

Love ya'll

No Bionic Eye?

Dr. Lee forgot to install the bionic eye...hmmm...Oh well...

Trivia: did you know that Farrah Fawcett Majors formerly married to Lee Majors (The Bionic Man) died recently of Anal Cancer, which is a totally different type than I HAD...yes...HAD!

I'm feeling stronger and am able to get up more often than not by myself, walk around and do a few things and not feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest.

A shower would still be nice, but that will come. Always nice to see the Beavers trounce the Trojans!

Still am draining out of 4 portals and Jeanah is doing a great job keeping those bandages changed 2x daily. Looking forward to Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's. Lots to give thanks for!

Love ya'll.

Surgication is over!

It's always a bummer when you come home from vacation and realize it's over. Well, imagine that we went to St. Vincent's (doesn't that sound tropical) and spent a week with "cabana boys and maids" that kept wanting to poke me with a needle! AND I still feel very much like I have the flu as far as my strength goes...

In fact, not to make you feel sorry for me, but just to give perspective where I am, this is is how I feel. 1) Haven't showered in 8 days...won't get to for about 20 more! Only sponge baths (thank God for Jeanah!) 2) I feel like I have several feet of duct tape on my belly holding drainage sites in place and the suchers. (again, thank God for Jeanah...she has to change the dressings twice/day. I can walk about 20 -30 steps before becoming winded. Not dizzy, just my heart thumping out of my chest...
tired, like I have the flu (and am healing).
Suddenly, my poop comes out the front, not the back (Um...what?) Oh, and I feel like I have a ball of that duct tape in between my cheeks.
And to boot, on my three main fingers on my right hand I feel like I have duct tape because they are slightly numb, but coming back slowly. BUT, I have very little actual pain, which everybody is quite amazed by, and I'm particularly happy about.

On the good side, I see how great my God is and how awesome my wife, friends and family are. Praise God for raising up an agent in Dr. Lee who was able to do some complex surgery like this!! WOW!! When I hear what he did, unbelieveable! I want to get an read the surgical notes at some point.

I AM AlIVE...and CANCER FREE!!!! Woo Hoo!!

OK, I'm getting tired of being at the computer...more later...

Preparation

Dr. Williams said I "did a good job" with the colonoscopy. That's great because I was asleep during the entire procedure. Surprisingly, the found cancer! Ha! They also did find one small pollup and removed it and will biopsy that. The Doc decided not to do another biopsy of the cancer as we just did that two weeks ago and determined it was adenocarcinoma (the dreaded "butt cancer" according to Jeanahisms 101).

Friday night we went out bowling with some friends. Saturday, I'm working for the last time for a while until 1pm, then Jeanah has a surprise in store.

Sunday, I will be preparing for surgery.

We go in at 7:15 on Monday. Surgery starts at 9:15. I will blog as soon as I can to let you all know how things turned out!

Double Dosage

Things are coming in twos this week.

First, I found out that I get to prep for a colonoscopy on Thursday am at 10:30. AND I get to prep again on Sunday for surgery on Monday. Prepping is SO much fun, but it's a necessary evil...

Then, I found out that because we are not certain exactly how the surgeon will do the procedure, I get to have marks for the stoma on both sides of my belly.

Should be interesting to wake up on Monday night and see what happened! Wonder if I'll be out of surgery in time for Monday Night Football (just kidding, Jeanah).

Well, time to visit the porcelain again...ain't this fun!

Today I met with the Pre-Op nurse, the Stoma nurse, and the Hospital Doctor and they have all the paper work and poking and prodding ready for surgery. Should be an uneventful check in.

Good thing we did though because my Blood Pressure is too high and he wants it down for surgery. I told him I'll get right on that, but he prescribed more meds for me to take so it will go down. Also, my potassium is borderline so he gave me some supplements to take.

mmmmm....more pills!

Won't be long now!

We are getting the barn ready for a fine post-op experience. I'm all hooked up and ready to be able to work from home too, which will be good several weeks from now...

Love ya'll

Game On!

Just a quick note to let everybody know the surgery has been scheduled.

Monday, November 8, 9:15am (I check in at 7:15am) at St. Vincent's Hospital in Portland (at the corner of Hwy 217 and Hwy 26 on Barnes road).

More Hope!

Last night, DRomov called me and gave me some great news. His preliminary report from Epic Imaging from the PET scan show NO TRACER ACTIVITY in the lymph nodes or surrounding area. This means that the cancer doesn't appear to have spread outside the rectum!

We didn't know this for certain previously as the films we hand delivered to Dr. Lee didn't have this report with them because the PET scan doctor had not made his report yet. The TRACER ACTIVITY in the area of the original tumor in the rectum has increased from a 10 to a 15. It has been in the 20's before... This means the cells in that area are more active. DRomov says he thinks this could be due to the bleeding, and other activity in that area in recent days.

In any case, the word of no spread was encouraging as we move forward.

My a$$ on the line.

Yesterday I had a PET scan. We won't fully go over the results of that with Dr. Chang until next Monday when I meet with him at 1:40 (we think).

Today we met with Dr. Lee, the colorectal surgeon. After a thorough examination, he said to save my anus and normal function would be very tricky. He isn't certain it can be done. This surprised me because I fully expected him to tell me to be prepared for a permanent colostomy.

We left it at he is to use his discretion. If he goes in and thinks the anus can be saved he will do it. I will wake up from surgery expecting permanent colostomy, but if he can do better, then GREAT! He said the dangers to saving the anus are 1) I will have bouts with "self control". I gotta tell you honestly I have already experienced a few due to the radiation from last year (and the location of the cancer currently). 2) Since it is a trickier surgery to save the anus, he will be required to be in there longer and to move around more.

Jeanah had a good point. How much risk is it worth to save my a$$? Really...that's a hard one to determine.

Please pray for:

1) Wisdom for Dr. Lee in making the decision.

2) Skill for Dr. Lee in executing his plan.

3) Peace for Jeanah and I with the result.

We don't know exactly when the surgery will be except that it is likely to be on an upcoming Monday. We have chosen St. Vincent's in Portland as the hospital we would like me to stay at for 7 days and Dr. Lee does surgery at St. Vincent's on Mondays.

Two good things we learned today:

1) The recovery time is 7 days in the hospital and 2-3 weeks at home. This is less than we expected because...

2) He thinks the surgery can be done lapriscopically. There is a possibility he will need to make a large incision in my belly, but he would rather not do this. Normally he is able to use lapriscopic surgery and he will try in this case.

The surgery will take about 6-7 hours and yes, he does have comfortable shoes (thanks Jeanah for asking :)

Love ya'll!

Surprise! A new chapter...

Well, at 5:30 am on Friday, I was at work, feeling great, and suddenly I had to go to the bathroom. Halfway there, I noticed I leaked a little and it felt like the original time when there was blood in 2008.

Sure enough, when I got to the bathroom, I was leaking a lot of blood out my bottom. I did what I could there, went back to my desk, clocked out, and went out the door, telling a co-worker I must leave for the day immediately.

I called Jeanah and asked her to meet me at St. Vincent's Emergency Room (about a 10 minute drive from work, 30 minutes from home).

Long story short (I'll give the long version later) the cancer is still there in my rectum and has moved around the circumference a little bit. We think this will definitely mean surgery to remove it.

For now, the bleeding has stopped and the doctors think I'm OK in the very short term but I plan to have surgery within the next week or maybe two. We will know more on Monday or Tuesday.

Please just pray for wisdom for us and the doctors as we discuss and confirm what the plan will be.

Love you all!

Stoned

After I ate my breakfast this morning I felt nausea and didn't feel like eating at lunch. I had a pain in my right side and I napped in my truck to see if it would go away.

It just got worse.

At about 10:30, I asked Jeanah to take me to a medical facility. We went to an Urgent Care place in Beaverton and after they took blood and urine samples and after my pain level went from a 3 to a 6 while there, they said for me to go to the Emergency Room.

I went to St. Vincent's ER and after waiting about 1.5 hours lying on a couch, I finally got in to see the Dr. Blessed woman gave me some pain meds right away. It was determined I have a "classic case" of kidney stone.

I'm going to wait it out at home and they think it should pass in the next 48 hours. I have good pain meds and Flowmax to increase the caliber of the passage way.

Hoping for less pain in this than everybody says there is!

I get to filter my urine for treasure! What fun!

More later.

Another Front

We have been status quo for several months, so I have not blogged. Continuing to do Vitamin C drip 1-2 times/week.

I was to have a PET/CT scan Sept. 7. They said, "be sure your blood sugar is under 200." Normally this has not been a problem. I checked several days prior, and my fasting blood sugar level (at 4:00 am) was in the 240's...oops!

So, my DRamov suggested a change in diet. I now am eating 6 meals per day (that sounds good, eh?) 250-300 calories/meal, and ONLY proteins (meats, nuts, eggs, etc.), fruits, and non-starch vegetables (no, no, potatoes are not non-starch veggies). NO GRAINS...not even gluten-free grains.

It has gone surprisingly well as today's number was 197.

He has also prescribed 500mg (small dose) Metforminto help get that number lower. It should be in the low 100's.

I had not kept up on my diabetic monitoring for the last year or so. This was my bad. We are confident that with diet, exercise, and monitoring we will get that blood sugar under control!

On another note...Thanksgiving and Christmas I will be eating "normally" but will be sticking to whatever dietary advice DRamov gives me other than that.

More info to come later...

Tough Veins

My Naturopath, Dr. Rob Dramov has a prayer request. He and I have been praying that he would be able to easily insert the catheter into the vein in my right arm. Because he wants me to have good mobility for the 2 hours each Monday and Thursday I am in his office, he has been using a very small caliber flexible catheter rather than the metal and rigid type used in the hospital. This is because I have to regularly (every 20 - 30 min) get up to use the bathroom, and because the smaller, more flexible catheter has less potential to cause scaring on my vein.

We want to continue to be able to use the big vein in my right arm. I have big veins and they are easy to find, but everybody has trouble getting the needle in them! He has had good success with one particular vein. Evidently I have thick skin!

In any case, we continue to do the IV Vitamin C treatment 1 to 2 times weekly in hope that it will continue to shrink the "tumor load". We will know more about the effectiveness after my next PET/CT sometime in August.

Ticked Off, Jeanah Catches a Fish!

So, I'm gonna start out with a "cancer update". I am in my 3rd week of the 2nd round of Vitamin C treatment. Everything seems to be going well, and we're going to continue the Vitamin C IV drip therapy 1-2 times/week through the summer. I'm also still doing the Budwig/yogurt and flax oil daily as well as a daily regimen of supplements.

Watching my diet has become more pronounced as we found out that Jeanah has Celiac disease and cannot eat wheat gluten. I'm trying as much as possible to continue to support her on that front.

I turned the big 4-0 on Saturday! I asked for and received an exercise bike to replace the one that had its computer die. I WILL get more exercise (so I can hike better!)

Jeanah and I went to LaGrande this weekend. We and her parents were hiking through the woods near the Camp Vista property along the North Powder River. It was as beautiful a hike as I've been on, although I should hike more so I'm not so winded!

Anyway, on Sunday morning, Jeanah let out a shriek as she was scratching my back. "That mole on your back has legs!!!", she said. It was a tick. We looked up tick removal online and she did a masterful job of removing it with tweezers. All is well. (Is your head tingling?...mine is...every time I think about it)

Later on Sunday afternoon, JEANAH CAUGHT A FISH! This was the first fish she caught in 21 years. We have been joking for years that if she is in the same county, you will not catch a fish. The curse has been broken! (no, she didn't use the tick for bait)

Until next time...

Love ya'll

Excitement Abounds

At today's appointment with the Oncologist, after waiting and being "patient" for 1.5 hours, I got to see both the Nurse Practitioner and Dr. Chang. I think I was the last patient of the day although I was scheduled at 3:40!

Both of them were more excited about the "Reduced Tumor Load" than I expected them to be. Basically, Dr. Chang said "keep doing what you're doing". He said that sometime in the next 4 months, before I see him again, I should see the Gastroenterologist (sp?) for another "scope" because those are so dang fun.

He said we are outside the window available to do surgery, but he said in light of what's happening, that may be alright. His plan is just to monitor the tumor 4 months from now and if it is still going well, then 6 months after that for several more years. He said the chance of recurrence in this type of thing is still high (he says more in the 40% range than the 90% range, but there aren't too many studies in this type of decision and treatment).

All my blood work looked normal and "perfect".

That's great, because I'm ready to go on vacation!

Love ya'll!

The Incredible Shrinking Tumor

The last Pet scan was in November. The Tumor was 4.6 cm across. It is now 3.9 cm across. That's a 15% reduction. We think that's a good thing!

Also, the SUV number which supposedly measures the activity of the tumor, was 14.1 and is now 10.4. That's a 26% reduction. However, in the previous previous PET scan in mid-2009, it was 9.2, so it's heading back down. We think that's a good thing too!

Also, there is no visible metastasis! No spread is a good thing too!

These readings were from Dr. Dramov, my Naturopath. I go see Dr. Chang, the Oncologist, on Thursday and we will discuss what the next plan of attack will be.

I'm assuming we will have another PET scan in 6 months or so. Our portion of this is $500, so we want to do these as sparingly as possible, but it is good to monitor the tumor area and get some handle on what is going on there.

Will report more after Thursday's appointment...

Love ya'll!

Victor

28 Minute Cat (Pet) Nap

The PET/CT scan today went well. No surprises at the actual scan. As always, after the 28 minutes of lying perfectly still, the technician told me I could put my arms down from above my head...I needed help.

The chair in the staging room at EPIC imaging is almost worth the $500/hour I have to pay to sit in it...

We will know the results Monday and/or Thursday as I have two doctor appointments next week with separate doctors.

VACATION!

Here is a COUNTDOWN TO OUR VACATION!!

We are going to Sunny California and we can't wait!

Flucation 2010

So Jeanah and I tried to get away for a 4-day weekend and it turned into a 5-day because we both went to Klamath Falls and had the flu all weekend long. The Running Y Ranch seems to be a beautiful place, much like Eagle Crest in Redmond. We would have loved to report better on it, but we were horizontal most of the time.

On the cancer front, I continue to visit Dr. Dramov 2x/week to get Vitamin C drips and will have the next PET/CT the last week of March (no firm date yet). Will visit with Dr. Chang after that for the results. Hoping the tumor area is shrinking with the Vit C treatments.

We plan to go on vacation in Mid-April to sunny California for 16 days of fun in the sun.

Be sure to take your Vitamin C!

So today I will start an 8-week, twice per week, Vitamin C IV regimen. I go to my Naturopath, Dr. Dramov, from 1:45 till about 3:45 on Mondays and Thursdays and he will put a large dosage of Vitamin C in my with an IV. I did this once back in October, but because it is $100 per visit and I didn't have the money, we tried to get the insurance company to pay it.

Recently, Dr. Dramov called and said somebody wishes to take care of the cost of this. I do not know who, or even if I know them personally, but we're going forward with it. Jeanah and I have discussed it and prayed about it and we think we would be crazy not to do it and see if it has any effect on the tumor.

Since the tumor has not grown or shrunken in the last two PET scans, it will be interesting to see if doing the Vitamin C IV does anything. I will be doing going in for another PET scan on April 5, so we shall see if it does anything.

Dr. Dramov is confident that this is enough time to see an improvement if one is going to occur from the Vitamin C IV. Our goal is to be able to use the Vitamin C to "shrink the tumor out of existence" or at least "make the SUV number go to below 2.5" which is in the "normal" range.

Both Dr. Chang and Dr. Dramov say that the SUV number being higher than 2.5 on the last 2 PET scans could mean that there is either still cancerous cells having activity and/or healing taking place in that region. Since the tumor has not gotten larger, there is a good chance it is just healing, but it's "tough to tell because of the mass of scar tissue in the area due to the radiation therapy".

All for now...

I'm Lucky!

Is it always good to be lucky? I guess not. Today I had a visit with Dr. Chang, my medical oncologist. I only had one question, it's one that has kind of been hazy for me over the last year. "Why me?"

He said we had, in fact, discussed this in our first consultation, but there was so much to go over then that maybe it got lost in the shuffle.

Basically, the answer is "You're just lucky."

He said that in simple terms, everybody's body is different. Everybody's environment is different. When a person gets carcinogens introduced into the body from the environment that the body cannot deal with properly for one reason or another, sometimes cancer happens. This makes plenty of sense.

He also said that this type of cancer happens more often in western society. He thinks it's because we eat more. He personally doesn't think it has as much to do with the "what" we eat as much as the "how much" we eat. (But, if we eat less, we should focus on higher nutrient things).

That answered that question, I guess...

We also discussed treatment proposed by Dr. Dramov, my N.D. Dr. Chang doesn't think there is enough evidence that the Vitamin C treatment works for it to be warranted, but he said ultimately it's up to me.

He did say that both Vitamin D and Aspirin in low dosage daily amounts have shown a small amount of help with colorectal cancers.

He said the result of the last PET/CT scan (back in November) was encouraging in that there is no spread and the tumor is the same size. He said the SUV number did jump to 14, and that it is tough to say what that is due.

Hope all is well with everybody in the new year!